Bittersweet Moments
by Demidia
Summary: This story takes place at the end of chapter 395. It's a short story of what I would like to see happen but probably won't. I hope you enjoy! No couplings.


Disclaimer: This story is a continuation of chapter 395 of the manga. It may contain spoilers. Continue reading at your own risk! I do not own Naruto or any characters of Naruto. I do own the original characters that my twisted brain has or may come up with.

* * *

"I'll play with you children some other time," Tobi said glaring at the group. Immediately after saying this, he seemed to disintegrate and disappear completely. Zetsu glared at Naruto because of the Aloe Vera remark before seemingly melding into the tree.

"GOD-DAMN-IT!"

Naruto's scream reflected the thoughts of the entire group. The group of Leaf ninja stood silently while reflecting on what had just happened until Naruto spoke.

"Let's go. We have to find Sasuke. Now!"

And with that, the group continued on in the direction they had been heading when the Akatsuki stopped them.

* * *

Sasuke continued to lie on the rubble where he had collapsed, and was fading in and out of consciousness. Try as he might, his mind simply could not grasp what had just happened. He knew he had somehow killed his brother, but the question was "how?"

During one of his more lucid moments, he noticed two figures appear, but he lost consciousness again before his brain could put the images he was seeing together with the information his brain was trying to tell him. Akatsuki.

Tobi stood beside Zetsu and smirked at the two brothers from behind his mask. He sped through several hand signs, and almost immediately the young woman he had summoned appeared before him.

"It's time," he said in a voice that was almost laughing with eagerness.

Without a word, she turned around and walked straight to the youngest brother and kneeled down beside him. She then placed her index fingers to his temples and began the flow of chakra.

The two Akatsuki watched as her, usually emotionless, crimson lips fell in into a small frown in concentration. She was wearing an Akatsuki cloak, but her cloak had a hood that covered her head and the top half of her face. It was also much tighter and clung to her form.

Sasuke's eyes shot open and he screamed as he felt a foreign chakra flowing through his temples into his eyes. He could see the person doing this to him, but he did not have enough strength or chakra left and could do nothing to stop her as she forcibly activated his sharingan. She lifted her hood only enough for her crimson eyes to meet with his, and then lowered it again and released the flow of chakra, causing Sasuke to once again lose consciousness.

"It worked," she stated. "Killing his brother activated the final form."

"Good," Tobi chuckled. "Continue."

She stood and moved over to Itachi. She knelt down beside him, and before she did anything else, she closed his eyes. The rain was still falling and she couldn't bear to watch it fall into those now white lifeless eyes. She then began sending her chakra throughout his body to check his injuries. He had severely overused the sharingan. Judging by the strain his heart, lungs, and liver had been put through, plus his shredded chakra networks he had used all three forms. She would fix that though.

"You fool," she whispered to the dead man.

She sat there a moment and brought her thumb to her lips and bit it while trying to decide the fastest, most efficient way to mend his organs. She would prefer to take her time and do it carefully, but that was impossible in this situation. She flinched as her mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood. "There is no other way," she thought. She withdrew her wounded thumb and sighed as she stood up and removed the cloak starting with the hood and handed it to Tobi.

Her eyes and hair were the same shade of crimson that her lips were, and her pale ivory skin was flawless. Her eyelashes were long, thick, and a deep black that outlined her eyes perfectly. Around her long neck, a forehead protector that had the Cloud symbol scratched out rested against her skin. She wore a black backless and sleeveless ANBU style top and a pair of low-rise black leather shorts that only came about three inches down her thigh. An inch below the legs of her shorts was what looked like black leather stockings with small pockets down the outer sides to the top of her knee-high ninja boots.

She felt the rain pelt against her newly exposed skin yet ignored it. She moved over Itachi and knelt down so she was sitting across his hips. She then leaned over and wrapped her arms around his back to pull him into a sitting position. As she did, his head fell into the crook of her neck.

"At least he hasn't started to go stiff yet," she thought as she pulled him as close to her as she possibly could. She closed her eyes and began to gather her chakra for the healing.

The two Akatsuki stood watching as bright green chakra manifested itself around the kunoichi and then began to flow into Itachi. After a few moments, both were completely enveloped in it. Then, there was a bright flash of light and the chakra disappeared. The two young shinobi fell limply to the ground. Neither one breathing.

"What the hell was that?" the light half of Zetsu exclaimed.

"That flash was an extremely large amount of life energy mixing with chakra that was then forced into Itachi," Tobi said, losing his usual almost childlike demeanor for the moment.

"Well, it looks like they are both dead now," the dark half of Zetsu stated.

Just as Tobi was about to growl in anger, Itachi's eyes shot open and he took a deep gasping breath. He felt pressure on his chest and found a young woman lying limp on top of him. He had known the plan would require someone to sacrifice his or herself to bring him back, but he had no idea it would be a woman so young and beautiful. He couldn't help but think that it was a shame she had to be the one to die. With more gentleness than even he himself thought he could muster, he rolled her off of him so she was lying on her back.

As he looked down upon her, he noticed his vision was better than it had been in years. Then, he noticed it. There were still remnants of her warm healing chakra within his body.

"Thank you," he whispered to her before looking for his brother. He didn't have to look far.

He shot a glare at Tobi and asked, "Did it work?" He only got a nod for a reply. He got up and moved over to Sasuke. His body felt a bit stiff, but he knew it would pass. He kneeled next to Sasuke and pinned his hands by the wrists with his left hand. He then placed his fingers around the eye that he had longed for.

* * *

Kisame headed for the, now quiet, pile of rubble that had been the battleground for the battle between Itachi and his brother. He had left as soon as he had taken care of Sasuke's teammates. The sounds of the battle seemed to have died off, but that all changed shortly after he arrived on the scene.

* * *

Sasuke awoke to the intense pain of having his left eye ripped from his skull. He had no idea he was capable of making the screams that were involuntarily leaving his mouth. He instinctively tried reach up and cover his wound, but he found his hands pinned.

"How? You were dead," Sasuke exclaimed as he glared at Itachi with his remaining eye.

"Gomenasai, little brother," was all Itachi said.

The last thing Sasuke saw was a look of true regret in his brother's eyes before the pain of losing his other eye sent him spiraling back into unconsciousness yet again.

* * *

The Leaf ninja had heard the screams and ran as fast as they could only to find that they were too late. They saw before them Itachi standing over an unconscious or dead Sasuke while placing, what they deduced to be, a bloody eyeball into a jar of liquid.

"What the hell did you do to Sasuke," Naruto growled, but he never got his answer because at that moment a kunoichi he had not noticed sat straight up and gasped for air. The beautiful young woman stood shakily, and made her way over to the masked man and took her cloak. After putting it on and hiding her face once again, she spoke.

"Is it done?"

Itachi nodded as he wondered who this woman could be.

"If you will remove them, we can start," she told him, taking the jar.

Itachi looked at the Konoha ninja. "What about them?"

"I'll hold them off," Tobi said gleefully as appeared between them and the ninja who were watching them so carefully.

Itachi nodded and placed his fingers around each of his eyes in the same fashion he had done to his brother. The Leaf ninja made no move to attack as they watched in horror at what was happening. He screamed as he ripped his eyes out. The blood was flowing freely down his face as he fell to his knees. The mysterious kunoichi removed the eyes from the jar and walked up to him.

"Hold your eyelids open," she instructed.

He dropped the eyes he had just removed and did as she said.

Her hands began to glow green with chakra, as did the eyes. She extended her arms and forced them into the empty sockets as he screamed in pain. Once they were in she sent a flow of chakra into them to attach and heal the muscles and tendons.

He could feel his new power within him and looked around with his new eyes. He could feel himself changing, though he couldn't explain how. Before he had time to think about it, the woman stated they should leave. She made a single hand sign, and the air visibly rippled around each of the Akatsuki members. It looked as though the air washed over them causing each to disappear.

Naruto and Sakura didn't think twice before running to Sasuke's side. Sakura immediately began checking him with her chakra and was surprised to find that he was still alive. She couldn't understand how he could still be alive, but that didn't stop her from trying to save his life. He had completely depleted his chakra reserves and pushed his body to its absolute limit. Not counting the many external injuries, there were many internal ones as well. Once his life was no longer in danger and she began to relax a little, she noticed the two eyes that Itachi had discarded. A thought ran through her head. If Itachi could use Sasuke's eyes, why couldn't Sasuke use Itachi's? She grabbed them, rinsed them off in the rain, and proceeded to do exactly what the Akatsuki kunoichi had done to Itachi. She had no idea of the changes such an act would cause in her long lost teammate. Once she had done everything she could for him, the group carried him back to Konoha, completely unaware of what had just happened.

* * *

A/N: So, that's it. I hope you enjoyed it. I know Sasuke was out of it a lot, but I can see him being like that after the battle with Itachi. And yes, the mysterious crimson kunoichi is an OC. Sorry if there was any confusion.

I have lots of ideas for a continuation, but whether or not I go through with it depends on the reviews I get. That means, if you want to know what happens, you better let me know D


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